Nutrition

Food allergies have an immune basis, so you experience symptoms every time you consume a food. Typical symptoms include skin rash, swelling and hives; severe reactions can be life-threatening. (Gas and bloating without any other symptoms don't necessarily constitute an allergic reaction.) Unlike intolerances, a delayed response is rare—allergic reactions usually present within minutes to a few hours after eating the food.

Diseases like celiac are different. For those with the autoimmune disease, the immune system attacks one's own body when gluten is consumed, damaging the villi that line the intestines, which can lead to serious nutritional deficiencies. If a screening blood test for celiac comes back positive, the diagnosis is usually confirmed with a biopsy of the small intestine. The Canadian Digestive Health Foundation suspects more than 330,000 Canadians have celiac disease, but only a third of cases are diagnosed. It's a lifelong disorder, and those with celiac are at an increased risk of other diseases, such as thyroid problems, Type 1 diabetes and small intestinal cancer.

Food sensitivities, meanwhile, can mean different things. Some experts consider sensitivity to be synonymous with intolerance, but there is no consensus in the scientific community. "Sensitivity is a rather loose term," says Dr. Mohsin Rashid, pediatric gastroenterologist and professor of pediatrics and medicine at Dalhousie University in Halifax as well as professional advisory board member of the Canadian Celiac Association. "It means you get symptoms when you consume a food, but it's probably not an intolerance—you're not missing something in the body to digest it—and it's not a typical allergy, either." Symptoms vary from person to person, as does the amount of the food required to provoke the reaction.

Non-celiac gluten sensitivity—when people get gluten-triggered symptoms but don't have celiac disease or the accompanying damage to the intestines—is an example of a food sensitivity. With no test for this sensitivity, the diagnosis is made by ruling out celiac disease. "It is hard to study how many people have non-celiac gluten sensitivity," says Dr. Rashid, "because patients may not be going to their physicians—they are trying a gluten-free diet on their own first." Self-diagnosing is potentially dangerous, as some people who think they have a gluten sensitivity could actually have celiac disease or a wheat allergy, which, if left untreated, could have serious long-term health consequences.

5 ways you're getting extra sugar without knowing it

Nutrition

5 ways you're getting extra sugar without knowing it

You might have heard the recent cautions from health experts that we’re eating too much sugar but brushed them off because you don’t have a sweet tooth. The truth is, even those who don’t eat sweets are getting way more than the recommended six teaspoons (25 grams) of sugar. That’s because sugar is hidden in nearly every processed food we eat. Chances are, if it comes in a package, it’s loaded with sugar. Here are five ways you could be getting sugar without knowing it.

1. Savoury saucesSince pasta sauce and barbecue sauce are savoury, they don’t contain sugar, right? Wrong. These sauces are actually some of the worst offenders when it comes to our sugar consumption. A half-cup of pasta sauce has about 12 grams of sugar, while the same amount of ketchup has about 27 grams, and barbecue sauce can have a whopping 44 grams. Even salad dressing can have up to nine grams of sugar per serving.

2. YogurtYogurt has long been heralded as a healthy snack, but it might not be as wholesome as you think. While yogurt has some naturally occurring sugar, it’s also a huge culprit for added sugars, especially if it’s flavoured or has fruit mixed in. A tiny 170-gram single serving cup can contain your full day’s sugar intake, so if you love yogurt, opt for plain varieties and mix in your own fruit for flavouring.3. Real fruit juices or leatherYou know that sodas and sweetened juices aren’t good for you, but you might think you’re being nutritious by buying the stuff made of 100 percent real fruit. Unfortunately, once fruit has been stripped of its fibre and turned into something else (like juice or fruit leather), your body no longer sees it as natural fruit. That’s why the World Health Organization’s recommendations say that the 24 grams of sugar found in the standard cup of apple juice count towards your 25-gram daily limit of added sugars.

4. Bread, pizza and crackersAlmost all bread you buy will have some sugar in it, because sugar activates the yeast to make the bread rise, but when you read the package of bread—or frozen pizza or any other bread product—you might be shocked to learn just how much sugar is hiding inside. A single bun might have four or five grams of sugar, and it’s easy to get the same amount in a serving of crackers—though chances are you’ll eat more than one serving.

5. Cereal and granola barsYou might think that if you’re not eating candy-coloured sugary cereals you’re in the clear, but unfortunately you need to look a little harder at the label to tell which cereals are chock-full of sugar. For example, did you know that a bowl of muesli can contain a day’s worth of sugar, and twice the amount as a bowl of Fruit Loops? And cereal bars or granola bars aren’t much better, with even the healthier versions coming in at half your day’s sugar. Try to make your own granola bars or muesli so you know how much sugar goes into them.